


the sandman's dream

by Dovey



Series: Sugary Sweet Treats [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Genin AU, Genin Era, MultiSaku Month 2018, Pre-Chuunin Exams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 14:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14854277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dovey/pseuds/Dovey
Summary: Sakura's first time in the desert leads to making an embarrassing mistake- that somehow works out in her favor. Cute boys are everywhere, don't ya know?





	the sandman's dream

She didn’t feel so good.

She’d been feeling worse and worse since that morning, when the bickering had gotten on her nerves and she’d skipped breakfast entirely to avoid the team and the headache that would’ve otherwise ensued. It had only gotten worse in her absence, and now that Kakashi had sent them off for a brief practice excursion, there was nothing to prevent her two teammates from turning their argument into a full blown competition. They dashed ahead of her in the sand, leaping from dune top to dune top with a delicate leap that suits Sasuke-kun just fine but feels far too nimble for Naruto, and Sakura is stuck falling sluggishly behind.

Her head hurts. The sun feels too warm, and her eyes keep having black skitter at the edges. Still, she doesn’t want to complain- the others are handling Suna’s heat perfectly, and she’s sick of getting teased for being weaker. Her feet are sinking deeper and deeper with every step that lands, when suddenly, she feels a prickle of cool across her skin and a rolling feeling in stomach.

She falls, silently, into the sand, out like a light. Her teammates are already a mile beyond her, and it takes them ten minutes to begin the circuit back. In that time, she’s already begun to sink into the sand, a fine layer of grains coloring her to match the landscape. It takes a full hour for them to complete their return, still arguing, when Kakashi greets them with a glare that finally gets them to shut up.

“Where’s Sakura-chan?” He asks.

Sasuke looks at Naruto. Naruto looks at Sasuke. They both look behind them.

“Fuck!” Naruto shouts, and for once, Sasuke doesn’t tell him to shut up. 

Sakura, meanwhile, is waking up in a cave to the sound of water. To her delight, it’s no mirage, but a babbling stream of water leading deeper into the caverns, turning the air cooler and allowing her to take cautious sips. It takes her a minute to register that there’s someone else in the cave, but when she does, she wips around and grabs for her kunai- only to find her pouches empty.

“That’s no way to treat your rescuer.” The boy teases, and Sakura spares a glance towards his face and tries to hide a blush. Why does  _ everyone  _ have to be prettier than her? And so obviously aware of it, from the pleased smirk on his face at her reaction. “Does Konoha  _ always  _ leave it’s genin in ally territories to die, or are you a special case?”

Sakura can feel herself pouting at the words, and barely holds back the full response she’d like to give if she wasn’t technically in the man’s care right now. “Like you’re not a genin, too, buddy.”

“Oh, but I’m not. You lazy leaf ninja take your time, but around here, things are a little more… advanced.”

She sends him a suspicious glance. He certainly looks to be the same age as her, maybe as old as the class above her if she’s willing to push it. “Chuunin?”

He shakes his head, and she can practically taste his egotism in the air. 

“Jounin?” She asks, incredulous, and he finally gives her a regal nod with far more pomp than any boy in a desert cave deserves to display. “No way!” She says, not disbelieving so much as impressed. 

“Oh, definitely. Even my counterparts find me unsettling, you know. Not a lot of puppetmasters in the corp nowadays…” He says, and then, with a twist of his delicate fingers, Sakura feels her arm moving against her will. It moves upwards, roughly, and then gives a far more gentle wave against her volition. 

Perhaps if the boy seemed more threatening… and if he hadn’t so obviously saved her, she would find it unnerving enough to lash out. Instead, she can’t help but be fascinated- it was similar to Ino’s jutsu, after all, and she was used to being tested on by both Ino and Shikamaru as a child when they’d been friends. 

“How did you do that?” She pressed, excitedly, and he startled at her interest and released the jutsu. She pushed closer to inspect his hand, but couldn’t find any outward signs of a tool- perhaps an inbedded one, like Shino’s clan?

“I use chakra strings.” He answers. His tone is quiet but pleased, and when she gives him an encouraging look, he gestures to his bag. “I normally control a puppet- I’ve only built one, so far, but I think my second will be a real work of art- but I can manipulate people with them as well.”

“That’s amazing!” 

It sounds like much more delicate work than what Sakura is used to witnessing- less a battle of chakra pools, and more one of skill. “Could I see your puppet? I’m not used to people taking artistic interest in their tools, and it sounds really interesting…”

“I haven’t got it on me right now, but if your team is headed to Suna…” He begins to suggest, and Sakura jerks back at the reminder. 

“Oh, no, my team!”

The boy waves it off. “We can go find them. It shouldn’t be difficult.”

“Oh, well, of course not, for a  _ jounin. _ ” She teases. He gives her a considering, slightly blank glance- it makes her feel a bit like when the dolls at her grandmother’s house seemed to watch her from the shelf. 

“You seem to have a decent basis for strength and flexibility… would you be opposed to serving as a puppet?”

“I- uh. I guess not?” It’s an offputting thought, but at the same time, it’s not as if a ninja can get in practice without someone willing to serve as a test-dummy. Plus, Suna is an ally- it certainly seems in line with their political relations to agree to such a friendly offer. Practicing on her is akin to teaching her, and puppeteering seems specific to Suna. He’s practically offering a gift. “Yes, actually, I’d like that.” She finally adds. 

Suddenly, she feels a tug at her arm again, lifting it up gently and placing her hand in front of his. He shakes it, lightly, and she marvels at just how smooth his hands are compared to her calloused, overworked things. 

“I think we’re going to get along very well…” He paused, and she snorted.

“Sakura. Haruno Sakura.”

“Ah. I think we’ll get along very well indeed, Sakura. My name is Sasori.”

As they make their way out of the cave and back into the oppressive heat of the sun, Sasori slipped his hood off his own head and placed it on her. “Wouldn’t want you to burn in the sun again, Sakura-kun.”

Uncertain how to respond, Sakura simply accepts it, pleased at the gesture from her odd new friend. He smiles at her, peering down slightly to see her expression under the cloth, and gives a small smile. 

“I think white and pink will make a very good combination for my next work… It’s a rather lovely color combination, now that I think about it.”

She can’t hide her blush without ducking her head, so she meets his gaze head on and sticks out her tongue. “Just so long as your next puppet kicks some ass, Sasori-kun.” 

He carries her part of the way back to the camp- on her back, the most dignified manner she could come up with, and he teased it was familiar considering he’s used to his puppet in the same spot- but just before the entrance he has her hop down to save face. They enter the camp to find a frantic set of Naruto clones, who immediately scramble to stab each other and send both of themselves back to Naruto in the fight. Sasori sends a questioning look towards Sakura, but she only rolls her eyes, happy to have someone else suffering her normal and understanding just how  _ annoying  _ it could get.

It took only a few minutes for the rest of team seven to turn up, real Naruto included, and Kakashi seems particularly on edge and the Suna Jounin standing at Sakura’s side. 

“Hello, Konoha Nin.” Sasori says, apparently aiming for reserved, before placing a hand on Sakura’s shoulder and finishing, “Did you happen to misplace a genin?”

“Ah, yeah-” Naruto begins, apparently not understanding it’s a jab, before Sasori interrupts him to continue, 

“Because I’ve decided to keep her.”

Sakura slams an elbow into his side and he pats her on the head placatingly. “Ah, apprentices, they can be so moody sometimes.”

“She’s  _ our  _ Sakura-chan, you can’t just keep her!” Naruto protests, and Sasori can’t help but twirl her teammates in place for just a second. 

“I could, actually. I’ll settle for just escorting all of you to your destination, of course, but only as a favor to Sakura-kun.”

The squabbling grows worse, and Kakashi refuses to let down his guard, but Sakura is happy to go along with the obvious teasing. It’s nice for her teammates to be the ones suffering from this sort of behavior, for once- perhaps Kakashi especially, the entitled butt. She leans over and whispers, “ _ Apprentice _ , Sensei _? _ ” Because while she was happy to have assigned the term mentally herself, she hadn’t realized he might of intended for her to do so. 

“Well, I suppose the term Master would be more appropriate-”

Her teammates hear that particular line, and it takes over an hour for them to settle down enough to even contemplate heading to Suna’s capital. 

**Author's Note:**

> archive wasn't working for me yesterday so here ya go a day late :/ im loving multisaku month !!! every day, even though i havent been able to write something for every day :( 
> 
> sasori's jokes might make you think hes gonna be the boss in the relationship but listen, sakura is a girl prone to crushes and sasori's a boy prone to longterm devotion- SOMEONE is gonna have to put in a lot of effort to make sure sakura's infatuation sticks, is all i'm saying. 
> 
> the boys' think they're free of sasori at the end of their mission, but then sasori offers to take part in a diplomatic mission that involves him spending like three years in konoha to sakura's deligth and literally nobody else's.


End file.
